1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rotary forging and more particularly to apparatus and method for the forging of components from powder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A known rotary forging machine is described in British Pat. No. 2,041,268B, in which a solid workpiece or blank is deformed by a rotary forging process to a shape determined by a die in which the blank is initially placed. Such a process is acceptable when starting with a solid workpiece or with a blank.
The known process and machine has not proved successful in forming an article directly from powder. The known method for forming an article from powder is to firstly obtain a preform blank by sintering or pressing in a standard press, sintering and then to transfer the preformed blank to the rotary forging machine as above described. This is extremely time consuming since it requires two separate pressing operations and a transfer operation between presses.